A Choice Made
by Ilyusha
Summary: Response to a Livejournal challenge  As a gift any occassion a character opens their box and...it's empty. Why? What happens? It's up to you.  G1 SkyfirexStarscream.  Slash if you squintPairings: Skyfire and Starscream... slash or non slash


Summary: Written as a response to **tirya56**'s challenge which was: _As a gift (you decide for what occasion if any at all) a character opens their box and...it's empty. Why? What happens? It's up to you.__  
_Pairings: Skyfire and Starscream... slash or non slash is all dependent on your perceptions and reading between the lines... ie. it ain't blatant.  
Disclaimer: Not mine, wish they were, but I can dream. As per usual, the good things in life are not mine to have, but belong to someone else... in this case they belong to Hasbro, Takara and IDW and anyone else I've forgotten…  
Authors Note: Hopefully Starscream doesn't seem out of character... Feedback makes friends. Flames dealt with by the masters of paranoia and fire, Red Alert and Inferno.

* * *

He received the box with Red Alert's seal of approval. Which meant it had gone through three days of tests and the Security Director had found nothing he could complain about. Not that that always stopped him, but at least he had his box now.  
If only he knew what it was for.  
The gaudy wrapping made his optics hurt and it was little wonder that Red Alert had decided to be particularly thorough with this package. Tentatively he shook the package, theorising that if it contained anything that might break, it would have already been broken through the course of Red Alert's tests. There was no sound.  
Puzzled, he looked all over the package for some kind of label, anything to say who the gift was from. Nothing. No identification anywhere.

Skyfire gently put the package down on the ground and stared at it for long minutes. He'd spent the last hour repeating the same process, unable to comprehend who would send him a gift and for what reason.  
Carefully, he picked the box up again, determined this time to actually open it. Without ripping the wrapping paper, he peeled back the edges to reveal a plain brown box. The gaudy paper floated to the floor as he teased up the edges of the box before peering inside.

The box was empty.

Now Skyfire was really confused. Who would send him an empty box? And why? He let the box fall to the floor, where it crackled against the wrapping paper that it had settled on. His attention drawn to the paper, he stared for a moment, before comprehension dawned in his optics. Without a word to anyone, he left the Ark, transforming as soon as he was outside and taking off.

He flew for miles and miles, constantly on the lookout. He now knew who had sent the box. What he didn't know was why. And that was what he intended to find out. The wrapping paper had been the clue he needed to know exactly where to find his answers.

The white of the polar region was sharp against the horizon. The North Pole – here he would find his answers. Hopefully. He landed and transformed, looking around for a familiar landmark against the snow.  
"I was beginning to think you wouldn't show." The voice resonated across the barren landscape.  
"Starscream." Quickly, he crossed to where his sensors told him the Decepticon was located.  
"Skyfire. I am glad to see that joining the Autobots hasn't dulled your keen mind." Starscream sneered as he looked up as his former friend.  
"Enough of the sarcasm Starscream. What is it you want?" With that question, the Decepticon Seeker appeared to slouch in defeat.  
"We were friends once Skyfire." He began quietly.  
"You betrayed me…" Skyfire interrupted to correct Starscream, stopping mid-sentence as the other held up his hand.  
"We were friends. A long time ago. We shared everything; research, knowledge, companionship."  
"We did." Skyfire agreed softly.  
"Then I lost you."  
"We lost each other." Corrected Skyfire. He watched as Starscream sat down on the snow, pausing for a moment before sitting next to his friend.  
"I returned to Cybertron burdened with loss. I didn't know what to do. Suddenly, everything had lost meaning for me. And when Megatron came along…" Starscream didn't finish his sentence; he didn't need to. They both knew what had happened after that. They had had time enough to catch up before Skyfire realised that it wasn't right for him to be allied with the Decepticons and had joined with the Autobots, prompting the start of this feud between the two of them; each thinking the other a traitor.

"You do know that it can never be the same Starscream?" Skyfire asked after long quiet minutes had passed between them.  
"I know. I just…" Starscream faltered, not exactly sure what he was going to say.  
"I know." Skyfire simply laid his hand on Starscream's shoulder, knowing exactly what the other meant. "I miss it too. But we can't go back to the way things were. We're on different sides now. We fight for different things."  
"You always were the heroically loyal type." Starscream sneered, standing up and moving away from Skyfire's touch. Skyfire shook his head.  
"It's your choice Starscream." He said before taking a step forward and transforming, launching himself into the sky and away from Starscream.

Starscream stood there alone on the ice for long minutes, until Skyfire's vapour trails had all but disappeared. Regret tainted every circuit in his chassis, yet he knew if they had the same chance again, they would get the same outcome. It was always the same. He was always left standing on his own. With the Decepticons it was different; he always had someone around. But it wasn't the same. They stayed around him because they were scared of him, that's what he believed. They were not equals. They were commander and minions. It was different. Skyfire stayed not because he was scared, but because they had shared common interests. Because they had been friends.  
Starscream cursed himself for behaving like a sentimental Autobot and took to the skies, resolving to return to the Nemesis and irritate Megatron. Just because he could. And it made him feel better.  
Most of the time.


End file.
